Love and the World

If you love Jesus more than anybody or anything, there is no telling what he will do for you, or give you. And I'm talking about things and situations in this world. God is not a God of deprivation, the way a lot of overly strict religious people think. There are religious spirits that have influenced many of God's dear children to feel guilty for wanting to have what amounts to normal and good circumstances in their lives. That guilt trip is not from God. The truth is that God wants good things in this life for his people, more than what they usually do. He blew me out of my socks four years ago this month about something that very few of his people would be able to receive or agree with if they knew what it was. Nonetheless my understanding of God's goodness went off the charts the moment that he spoke to me about this issue. Trust me when I say that God is not against your desired for good things in this life. He wants it for you more than you do. Sometimes we just have to be processed a little bit prove, mainly to ourselves, that we truly do love him above all. We also must learn the value also to learn patience and waiting; which may be the most needful thing we can learn. "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psm. 37:4). Both aspects of that scripture are of great significance to the Lord, and be takes equal pleasure in both. He loves giving us the desires of our hearts about things and situations in our lives, as much as he loves for us to delight ourselves in him, which is to say prefer him above all.

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Psm. 34:8). The whole idea that "God will give you what you need, not what you want," has been carried way too far for way too long in the kingdom of God. I will tell you by lengthy experience as one who HAS delighted himself in the Lord, that God will usually give you what you WANT as long as you want him more. I'll show you what I'm talking about by the scriptures, where David received a monumental rebuke from the Lord for effectively murdering one of his most noble warriors, and marrying his wife: "And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things" (II Sam. 12:8). The point is that God had already given David much in this life in many ways, and he clearly said through the prophet that he would have been glad to have given him plenty more; but of course he did not give him license to kill Uriah or to marry his wife. But what God said by Nathan reveals about God the point that I have made in this short article. That point is simply that God is for you, not against you. God did not place us in a glorious creation just so he could see how deprived we can live, in order to prove that we love him.

Someone will inevitably argue with the verse about David, saying, "But that was the old testament." Of course it was the old testament, but it wasn't 'the old God.' So many people ignorant try to turn God into someone else because the covenant changed. Well, God SAID he was going to change the covenant, but the same God said that he himself would NEVER change (Jer.31:31-34; Mal. 3:6). What God said to David was an element of God's heart, and his heart has never changed. Not one millimeter, and not for one second. Ever. Never will either. So what was an element of God's heart then is an element of God's heart now. And what God wanted for David, and was willing to give him, he is the sane toward anyone who delights themselves in him, got God is not a respecter of persons. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:1,2). This passage of scripture is not an exhortation to have nothing or nobody, or to do nothing in this world. It most assuredly IS an exhortation to keep God and the things of his kingdom first and foremost in our hearts and our lives however. The truth is that if we do just that, there will not be a whole lot of space left in our lives for much of anything else. But that doesn't mean that there will be NO space left in our lives for anything in this world.

The apostle Paul probably set these things in their best order in another place: "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away"(I Cor. 7:29-31). That was just another way of saying to be certain that Jesus and his Gospel is our absolute priority, but he didn't say anything about having nothing or no one. He said the same thing with less words elsewhere: "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand" (Philip. 4:5). If we are to be moderate, that means for us to be moderate about things and situations in this world, so we have to have things going on in this life to BE MODERATE ABOUT. I will close the article with another saying by the Apostle Paul from the chapter where he warned about the love of money: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (I Tim. 6:17). So again we see that the scriptures do not condemn us for having things and situations in this life that we like, but rather to keep God and his ways first in our lives. If we do that it will be evident, and only those who are contrary God's goodness will have a problem with us. I think that says it. God bless.